. . . local students, along with all students from across Minnesota, may soon have to pass one more test in order to graduate — a 100-question multiple-choice test on the principles of democracy, citizens’ rights and responsibilities, and American history.

“What I’m trying to do is elevate the level of civic awareness in the state,” said Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Acton Township, who is introducing the bill at the Capitol. “... I believe we have a growing crisis on knowledge in our country regarding our republic and democracy.”

The test, which would be implemented in an upcoming school year if Urdahl’s bill becomes law, is modeled after the naturalization test immigrants take to become U.S. citizens. While U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services requires immigrants to verbally answer six of 10 questions correct, Urdahl’s bill would require students pass the multiple-choice test with 60 of 100 questions correct.

“This is what we expect naturalized citizens to know. If we expect naturalized citizens to know it, shouldn’t we expect all citizens to know it?” he asked.

Good question.

The bill hasn't been introduced yet, but will show up here when Representative Urdahl puts it "in the hopper."

One of the things that we've noticed--mostly in comment sections--is the assumption by some readers commenting at the Star Tribune, Raw Story and elsewhere that Big Stone County is a red county, perhaps because it is so very rural.

The pattern held true in 2010. Voters favored the Republican for the state house race (he lost the district as a whole) but voted for Democrats in all the other races. In 2006, the non-presidential year prior to that, Big Stone County voters picked DFLers in all of the partisan offices.

Just as Jack Whitley's extreme bigotry isn't representative of all Minnesota Republicans, neither is his party affiliation indicative of Big Stone County.

A friend reminded us today that Minnesota's western boundary waters--the headwaters of our beloved Minnesota River Valley--is old Farmer-Labor Party territory. It's that, and like so much of the Upper Valley, it's little known, far less than it should be given the friendly people and distinctive prairie river landscape.

Photo: Big stones in the Stone Federal Wildlife Refuge near Ortonville. Early spring.

. . . What has Andrew Falk done to help the community of Appleton recover? Nothing. The Prairie Correctional Facility still sits empty while Falk has voted again and again to use $111 million of our tax money to build state-run corrections facilities in St. Peter and Moose Lake. . .

The talking point echoes a lit piece that Miller has been distributing in Appleton (see embedded PDF below) while sharing Miller's confusion of civil commitment with incarceration.

Neither facility at Moose Lake and St. Peter is part of the Department of Corrections (DOC), but rather the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP), which is operated by the Department of Human Services. They're not "state-run corrections facilities." (The DOC runs a separate facility in Moose Lake).

The Minnesota Security Hospital, a secure treatment facility located in St. Peter, serves people who have been committed by the court as mentally ill and dangerous.

These are not "corrections facilities." It's not the same pot of money; to claim that funding one robs from the other is a bait and switch.

It also signals that Miller is utterly clueless about the complex legal issues surrounding the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. A fine primer to the program can be found in Briana Bierschbach's MinnPost article from this summer, The Minnesota Sex Offender Program, explained:

Why are sex offenders in MSOP called “clients”? In short: because they can’t be called prisoners. In fact, most — but not all — people in MSOP have completed prison sentences for sex offenses, and have been sent to MSOP for continued treatment through a process called “civil commitment.”

So what is “civil commitment”? When a sex offender nears the end of their prison sentence in Minnesota, the Department of Corrections puts them through a screening process, referring those who may be appropriate for commitment to county attorneys. County attorneys then determine whether to file a petition for commitment with the district courts, where a judge makes the final call.

The Big Con: why Miller's accusations are a bait-and-switch

The Prairie Correction Facility, on the other hand, is a private facility owned by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which bought the for-profit prison built by the Appleton Prison Corporation in the mid-1990s after the project defaulted on its bonds.

. . .The prisoners, all men, tend to have good conduct records and don't need intensive programs such as sex-offender treatment, he said.

The medium-security prison housed 1,200 Minnesota inmates as recently as two years ago, but that figure has dropped as the state's prison population has flattened out and more beds have been added to state facilities.

The for-profit company was able to make a profit by taking on healthy, non-violent inmates. It's not set up for the complex needs of those clients at the Moose Lake and St. Peter treatment facilities.

Not funding facilities at St. Peter and Moose Lake would not have caused those individuals to be held in a private prison in Appleton. It's a bait and switch.

It's also kin to other examples in the cycle where Miller's outrage about stuff is profoundly discontented from common sense. As we've noted earlier:

In the same radio debate, Miller deplored negative campaigning via independent expenditures by outside groups, even though he's shared some of these materials on social media and done negative campaigning of his own.

In short, this isn't a bug, it's a feature of Miller's approach to policy and decision-making.

Bipartisan bonding, rural legislative votes

Moreover, as with all bonding projects, this year's DHS spending at St. Peter and Moose Lake was passed on bipartisan votes; ayes included West Central Minnesota area Republican legislators like Torrey Westrom (Elbow Lake) and Gary Dahms (Redwood Falls) in the Senate, and Chris Swedzinski (Ghent) and Paul Anderson (Starbuck) in the Minnesota House's roll call.

Characterizing the vote as "for Minneapolis" is absurd, regardless of the party. On the other hand, Dahms joined Miller at a Mike McFadden meet-and-greet today in Olivia; perhaps Miller took some time to scold Dahms for being "For Minneapolis" as the Montevideo letter writer framed the vote.

DOJ Environmental Assessment on a Proposal to Award a Contract Includes Appleton

Perhaps spending state corrections money at the private prison will end up as a dead issue during the next session. Prairie Correctional Facility is one of four private facilities listed on an "Environmental Assessment on a Proposal to Award a Contract to . . . One Private Contractor" for low-security adult male criminal aliens. An notice of the availability of the report was published Friday in the Federal Register.

According to the notice, the Environmental Assessment, made available for comment on Halloween, is available for comment through December 1, 2014. A webpage on the federal Bureau of Prisons about contract prisons notes:

Contract prisons are secure institutions operated by private corporations. The majority of BOP inmates in private prisons are sentenced criminal aliens who may be deported upon completion of their sentence.

Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment on a Proposal to Award a Contract for New Low Security Beds to One Private Contractor to House Approximately 2,000 Federal, Low- Security, Adult Male, Non-US Citizen, Criminal Aliens at a Contractor-Owned, Contractor-Operated Correctional Facility under the CAR 15, Requirement B initiative.

AGENCY: Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice.

ACTION: Environmental Assessment.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announces the availability of the Criminal Alien Requirement 15, Requirement B Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposal to award one contract to house up to 2,000 federal, low-security, adult males, non-US citizen, criminal aliens within one existing contractor-owned, contractor-operated facility. . . .

PROJECT INFORMATION

The proposed action is to award one contract to house up to 2,000 federal low-security, adult male, non-US citizen, criminal aliens at an existing contractor-owned and contractor-operated correctional facility. Under the Proposed Action, the selected contractor would be required to operate the facility in a manner consistent with the mission and requirements of the BOP. All inmate services would be developed in a manner that complies with the BOP’s contract requirements, as well as applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. In addition, the facility would be within proximity, and have access to, ambulatory, fire and police protection services.

The federal inmates assigned to this facility primarily would consist of inmates with sentences of 90 months or less remaining to be served. Inmates are anticipated to be federal, low-security, adult male, non-US citizen, criminal aliens; however, the BOP may designate any inmate within its custody to serve their sentence in this facility.

Four existing privately owned and operated correctional facilities, one in Minnesota, two in Oklahoma, and one in Ohio, met the evaluation criteria of the BOP’s solicitation for CAR 15 Requirement B. Each of the following existing facilities has been evaluated in this EA. In addition, the No Action Alternative is evaluated to determine baseline conditions and comply with the provisions of NEPA.

No other facilities are under consideration by the BOP. Although the four alternatives have been evaluated within the EA, an environmentally preferred alternative has not been identified due to the pending contracting action . . . .

It appears as though the Appleton prison is a contender for a federal contract. It does not appear that the state legislators would have much involvement in this deal between the federal government and CCA.

2011: California dreaming in Appleton

This isn't the first time that the possibility of re-opening the prison has been raised. In 2011, City Pages reported:

Minnesota Independent reported about the prison corporation's plans to house California inmates in Appleton based on a November 2010 posting by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to that effect.

City Pages called Falk, a DFL-er representing District 20, to ask if that was true. According to the legislator, CCA officials denied that there are plans to re-open the jail.

"The facility is sitting there idle," Falk said. "We want the jobs back."

He says that the Appleton facility was one of the largest property taxpayers in Swift County, Minnesota, since it was created in the early 1990s -- and also one of the top employers in the area.

"It could be a couple hundred to three hundred jobs," he says.

The jail closed in 2010 because Minnesota lawmakers expanded Minnesota correctional facilities in Faribault and Moose Lake, lessening the need for a private facility in Appleton.

The contract never materialized for CCA, and the possibility of prisoners from California is a dim one at best these days. Under a court order to reduce overcrowding while not moving prisoners out of state, California began to move inmates to private prisons within the Golden State, Paige St. John reported in 2013.

Some CCA donations to Minnesota campaigns might be trickling into Minnesota elections this year, Bluestem has disocvered.. Open Secrets's database for the Republican State Legislative Committee reveals that CCA gave the group two contributions this year ($10,000 on May 16, 2014 and $25,000 on February 21, 2014).

If you are concerned about the out of control demographic changes and the deleterious effects it is having on your neighborhoods and communities, call Greg and plan on attending the event posted below. You can contact Greg at rpcpllc@gmail.com or 320-420-1700. Just FYI, Mr Thissen has already met with members of MAS-MN, a Muslim Brotherhood front group, at MAS-MN’s Annual Muslim Day at the Capitol last year:

St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce members are invited to attend a round table discussion with Minnesota Speaker of the House Paul Thissen. Representative Thissen desires to engage with the St. Cloud business community and learn more about factors that have contributed to the area’s economic growth. . . .

Of the two major topics that came up Wednesday in a business roundtable, one is in the rear view mirror from a legislative standpoint and the other is bearing down the middle of the road for the next session.

The recent law raising Minnesota’s minimum wage and a need to find funding for road and bridge work were top of mind for many in a group of about 40 people who peppered Paul Thissen, speaker of the state’s House of Representatives, with opinions in a conference room at the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce.

Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, spoke for about 15 minutes before taking a dozen comments and questions. He said the premier issue facing the state in 2015 will be infrastructure. The audience addressed that and other concerns, including a tax and regulatory climate that is leading some businesses to leave the state. . .

As for Muslim Day at the state capitol, we're not sure where the United States Constitution or state constitution waived the right of any citizens to assemble and contact legislators based on religion (or non-faith for that matter). But this is the crowd who seem comfortable with the notion that whole communities can be designated no refugee zones.

It's a non-partisan event, too, since Senator Dan Hall, one of founders of the MNGOP's Minority Liberty Alliance, also spoke to the group. Perhaps the Tea Party can explain to Senator Hall, formerly a legislative chaplain, why he should snub groups based on religion. We suspect they won't be happy with his answer.

Jul 22, 2014

In Tuesday's Star Tribune, Alejandra Matos reports that the Immigration debate comes to Minnesota in force as politicians and immigration advocates and nonprofit groups that often serve traditional refugees struggle with the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexican border.

One piece of the debate missing from her article is the response from past players in the anti-immgration faction--those who not only oppose undocumented immigration, but who support reducing all immigration to the United States.

On Thursday, July 24, at the Willmar Public Library from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., California resident and former Minnesota resident Ron Branstner, a longtime activist in various Minuteman efforts, will lead a "Illegal Immigration Forum" billed in an ad in Saturday's West Central Tribune as:

"an open forum discussion on the growing number of illegal immgrants and its effect on small communities in the Midwest. This will be led by a guest speaker from The Minutemen Border Watch of Arizona and California."

Acting on an email tip from a reader in Willmar, Bluestem called the library for more infromation; the library gave us Ron Branstner's contact information.

In an extended phone interview, Branstner stated that his talk would first review "the atrocities" that he had seen while on border watch with the Minutemen on the Arizona and California borders with Mexico, then move to talk about the impact of undocumented immigrants on American communities.

He stressed to us that he would not single out any particular national group of people crossing the border, as he said that he largely believes that they are being exploited by human traffickers and the corporations who hire undocumented workers.

Branstner called the system "slavery," singling out Hormel Corporation and Quality Pork Processors Inc. of Austin, Minnesota, as examples, repeatedly returning to the what Mother Jones magazine called The Spam Factory's Dirty Secret of working with pig brains that sickened employees in the QPP factory.

The Minuteman activist stated that he had recently read that 83 percent of Hormel's workforce was Hispanic, and constrasted that figure with that of Minnesota's population as a whole. He believes that Hormel buses in undocumented workers from cities near the U.S-Mexican border to Minnesota as a means to obtain low wage workers who won't risk their jobs.

Branstner said that his talk would touch on diseases and crime that undocumented immigrants bring to this country, his focus would be on corporate exploitation of them and the "the money behind this." He faulted foundations for joining lobbying sponsored by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugeesas being part of that force, singling out Grand Rapids' Blandin Foundation's leadership training as a means to convince local leaders that immigration is a positive development for Minnesota.

He is the only scheduled speaker in Thursday night, he said, and is a member of the Minutemen. In earlier presentations in Minnesota and Iowa in 2007 and 2008, Brantsner identified himself as a member of "Minuteman Civil Defense Corp., a border watch group. It is affiliated with Minnesota Seeking Immigration Reform," According to a 2008 editorial in the Rochester Post Bulletin, Branstner was at every event hosted in Austin by the Minnesota Coalition for Immigration Reduction during that time. The latter group seeks to reduce all immigration--not merely that by the undocumented--to 200,000 people per year.

Willmar mayor to attend

Not that he isn't trying to get other people to address the forum in Willmar, where he does not appear to have led forums during his 2007-2008 heyday in the Austin, Minnesota area.

Branstner said that Frank Yanish, mayor of Willmar, was coming to the forum to listen, although the activist hoped that the mayor would speak as well. Branstner had invited Yanish and Willmar's chief of police to the forum.

According to Branstner, Yanish had put in place a 287 (g) arrangement (joint Memorandum of Agreement or MOA) between the City of Willmar and Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. According to ICE, under such a MOA:

ICE works closely with federal, state and local law enforcement partners in this mission. The 287(g) program, one of ICE's top partnership initiatives, allows a state and local law enforcement entity to enter into a partnership with ICE, under a joint Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), in order to receive delegated authority for immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions.

Willmar is home to Jennie-O Turkey Store, which is owned by the Hormel Corporation, so Branstner is stuffing that bird with his event. According to information on Kandiyohi County's webpage, the turkey processing firm is its largest employer, with the associated Willmar Poultry Company

The seat of Kandiyohi County, Willmar is somewhat more ethnically diverse than the state as a whole. According to the State and City Quick Facts information at the United States Census website, the City of Willmar was 20.9 percent Latino or Hispanic in 2010 (contrasting with 4.7 percent of the state as a whole) and 4.8 percent African/Black (compared to 5.2 percent of Minnesotans) and 72.4 percent white alone (contrasting with 83.1 percent of the Gopher State; 8.1 percent of Willmar's population is foreign-born (MN: 7.2 percent).

While 19 percent of Willmar residents over age 5 speak a language other than English in their homes, statewide, only about 10.6 percent of the state's population reside in such homes.

Branstner had invited Congressman Collin Peterson to the forum, who "we really want to get to," but the office declined to send a representative to the California resident's forum. He didn't recognise the hame of State Senator Torrey Westrom, the endorsed Republican congressional candidate running against Peterson.

Ron Branstner was back in Austin on Monday, selling the same arguments that he’s been pitching for more than a year now — namely, that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs from hard-working Americans, committing crimes, demanding assistance from social services — and that the Welcome Center is making it easier for them to do so these things in Austin.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

We’ve heard this shtick before from Branstner, the California Minutemen border-watcher who seems to show up every time the Minnesota Coalition for Immigration Reduction holds a public meeting in Austin.

If the coalition asked Branstner to stay away from its next public meeting, its status would grow considerably in our eyes.

A public forum hosted Monday by the Minnesota Coalition of Immigration Reduction drew more than 100 people; an article the following day on the Herald’s Web site generated more than 50 postings — most emotional and many heated — in three days.

Several entities in the community were severely criticized by a forum of panelists, who included representatives from organizations with vested interests in immigration reduction. The City of Austin, law enforcement and the Welcome Center were chastised for aiding illegals, whom the speakers believe are attracted to the community because resources are available here.

“You need to shut the Welcome Center down,” Minuteman Ron Branstner demanded attendees, who responded with applause Monday. “It’s a magnet for the whole state of Minnesota.”

Branstner claimed the non-profit, founded in 2000 by the local organization APEX to provide services to newcomers with language barriers, receives millions of dollars in federal funding.

Welcome Center Executive Director Liliana Silvestry, who was not in attendance at the forum, rebutted that they do not receive any federal funding whatsoever, and that she has yet to see such documentation.

“It is funded most of the time coming from foundations — locally and out of state — also friends and supporters,” Silvestry said Thursday. “We don’t receive state funds except local funds from the city. We have an agreement for services with the county.” . . .

Less than 30 people attended the forum in the mirrored community meeting room.

The two-hour session began with the playing of a video, which most people ignored.

When Ron Branstner, representing Minnesota Coalition for Immigration Reduction (MCFIR) began his presentation, he attacked the media for biased reporting.

Despite brandishing newspaper clippings showing Austin’s support for addressing open borders issues from USA Today and other papers, Branstner specifically accused the Austin Daily Herald of failing to accurately report the activities of MCFIR in Austin. . . .

According to Branstner, foundations have a hidden agenda and that is to support open borders to allow American industries and businesses a ready supply of “cheap labor.”

The 1985-86 labor dispute and strike at Hormel Foods Corporation facilities resulted, in part, with the need for “cheap labor.”

He quickly spun off charges Apex Austin was created to assist “cheap labor” in coming to Austin.

That, the more than 700 Austin citizens who participated in the Blandin Foundation’s Community Leadership Program, were “brainwashed” into supporting the movement toward cultural diversity.

The Blandin Foundation's Community Leadership Program has trained over 6,500 local leaders from over 400 communities across Minnesota. The foundation distributes the proceeds from a trust worth more than $350 million that was established by paper company owner Charles K. Blandin in 1941.

Brantsner returned to Austin in May 2010, according to a Post Bulletin article reprinted in the Meat Trade News Daily (UK), Hormel Foods under fire over immigrant staff. The meeting took place at the time when the country (and state) was roiled over Arizona's notorious SB1070 law. According to the report:

California Minuteman Ron Branstner compares the employment of illegal immigrants at local businesses like Hormel Foods Corp. and Quality Pork Producers to the indentured servitude experienced by blacks and the Chinese and by child laborers in earlier times.

And the small crowd of people who gathered in a rented business space in the Oak Park Mall largely agreed with him.

Branstner spoke at a meeting of the local chapter of Minnesota Coalition for Immigration Reduction on Thursday night.

"They're being used," said Branstner of illegal immigrants who work for Hormel and QPP.

Hormel Foods Corp. officials were not available for comment this morning.

Branstner blames organizations like the Blandin Foundation and APEX Austin, which in turn created the Austin Welcome Center, for contributing to the problem by making the city attractive to illegal aliens because it helps them find jobs, housing and driver's licenses.

The Welcome Center's mission is to help newcomers become part of the community and to promote multicultural understanding; most of its budget comes from grants and donations. Welcome Center board president Mark Stevens said he had no response to Branstner's comments.

Branstner told the crowd that their tax dollars paid for those projects. He claimed that only employers like Hormel and QPP benefit from illegal immigrants in Austin "because we pay for all the taxes."

Branstner charged that local efforts to count all the immigrants in this year's U.S. Census are merely a way for politicians to gain votes.

He charged that the problems seen in Austin will spread because of Blandin and former Mayor Bonnie Reitz, who has spoken to other communities about how Austin has handled the issue.

While Branstner told Bluestem that he doesn't single out groups in his presentations, the Post Bulletin story does suggest that this has not always been the case:

Branstner encouraged the crowd to vote out every incumbent "because they bury themselves in this [Blandin] program." He alleged that U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison "has flooded the area with Somalis and Hmongs" to keep himself in power. Ellison's congressional district is in the Minneapolis area and doesn't include Austin.

But Keith Ellison seems to hold a special place in Ron Branstner's heart. On June 23, 2007, Ellison held a community forum on immigration reform, featuring Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), author of the STRIVE Act (the Security Through Regularized Immigration and Vibrant Economy Act of 2007) a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, along with "a panel of people from the labor movement, the faith community and the Hispanic, Somali and Hmong communities," the Downtown Journal reported.

This is a update on the Ellison Immigration reform debate this past weekend This is straight from Calif member Ron - who was in attendance and we thank him and all that were able to attend

Of course it will be no surprise to anyone that the pro amnesty slant was loud and clear - Ellison - must no be re elected EVER! Ruthie,

Yesterdays open forum at the washburn HS Minneapolis was, to say the least interesting.

Out numbered and out voiced the proponent cheered as the propaganda machine spoke.

Ellison and Gutierrez said repeatedly that immigration is flawed and sending people home is not the answer. The gym was filled with a third world eliment and little respect for law.

Gutierrez was speaking in spanish and I stood up and shouted to speak in english and the mob was ready to put a rope around my neck.

The reality is Minnesotans better awaken soon and with some fight. Ellison has plans to legalize as many 3rd world people through this amnesty bill. Ellison is fighting to reinstate thousands of Liberians whos visas are about to expire next month, and with chain migration the families are awaiting there ticket to America. This should be headline news.

Well then. As we noted at the time, the struggle of Liberian refugees in Minnesota hadn't been neglected in the state's press--and when a person heckles at a meeting, Minnesotans get pissed:

Yup, it's funny how annoyed people get at meetings when someone starts heckling. We've been to a lot of meetings--some where people have been really, really pissed at Congressman Walz for his war funding votes--and yet the custom is to be civil.

And the Liberians Branstner fears are political refugees. And as far as this issue being headline news, the story of their fight to stay in Minnesota wasn't particularly neglected by the media.

To its credit, the Star Tribune ran a series about the group beginning in February that has been regularly updated: A People Torn: Liberians in Minnesota. Doesn't seem as if Branstner or Hendrycks are aware of it--but facts are stubborn things.

Why is California Minuteman Branstner speaking again in Minnesota?

It's seven years later from the 2007 forums, and Branner is taking his show to Willmar, with his talking points about corporations and foundations conspiring with human traffickers intact.

In our phone interview Tuesday, he claimed to have little recent contact with MinnSIR's Ruthie Hendrycks, while noting that the membership of the Minnesota Coalition for Immigration Reduction was aging. He was unaware of concerns about immgration expressed by the SW Metro Tea Party (he didn't recognize Chanhassen Republican Representative Cindy Pugh's name) nor the anti-Somali agitation encouraged by the Central Minnesota Tea Party. Moreover, he was unaware of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce's postion favoring comprehensive immigration reform.

It seemed like he wasn't from around here--and confirmed that he remains a legal resident of California.

The Minuteman Project -- the controversial civilian patrol that came to prominence a decade ago -- is riding out of retirement in a bid to help tackle the illegal immigration crisis at the Mexico border.

The group, which patrolled parts of the 2,000-mile border from 2005-2010, acting as unarmed and unsanctioned eyes and ears of the Border Patrol, is trying to recruit a force of thousands to help keep illegal immigrants from making their way into the United States from Mexico. Minutemen founder and president Jim Gilchrist said preparation for "Operation Normandy" will take place over the next 10 months as the dormant group seeks to recruit and organize as many as 3,500 volunteers.

“We are coming because we no longer trust that this government knows how to handle this issue,” Gilchrist told FoxNews.com. “This is going to dwarf the original Minuteman Project and I expect a number of militia groups to join.”

The Minuteman Project gained national traction in 2005, but internal turmoil, accusations of vigilantism and criminal charges against some of its key figures, including a former leader of the movement, Chris Simcox, led to its demise. Gilchrist said the group’s last significant border operation was conducted in July 2010, roughly one year after the high-profile robbery and murder of Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, Jr., who was fatally shot during a struggle for his night vision device on the international border near Campo, Calif.

Gilchrist accused the Obama administration of not taking illegal immigration seriously, noting the nearly 60,000 unaccompanied children, mostly from Central America, have been apprehended along the border since Oct. 1. Separately, more than 39,000 immigrants, primarily mothers and children, have also been arrested in that same period.

The massive influx has come despite a doubling to more than 21,000 in the number of Border Patrol agents over the past decade. . . . .

Now Branstner is back to the state where he was born, hanging out at an undisclosed location in Central Minnesota, and getting ready to till new ground in Willmar.

The forum will take place at the Willmar Public Library, 410 5th St SW, on Thursday, July 24, 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Photos: Ron Branstner in Austin, circa 2007-2008 (above); Branstner wasn't the only one to run to the border for quality time with the Minutemen;scanned image of the ad for Thursday's forum from the West Central Tribune (middle); former Senator Dick Day (R-Owatonna) also visited (below). Artistic rendition via Tildology.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button below:

In Minnesota, it is not suprising that the Twin Cities has the highest percentage of foreign-born. And though it is not wholly accurate to categorize a county in this way, it does give an interesting view into the state

Curiously, the county with the largest concentration of foreign-born residents isn't Ramsey or Hennepin County, but rather Nobles County, on the Iowa border in the decidedly non-Twin Cities Southwestern Minnesota; the fourth and fifth ranked counties (Watonwan and Olmsted, respectively) are also located in Greater Minnesota.

My town is different than your town. You might go many places and travel far and wide. I have an interesting community that allows me to enjoy the far flung reaches of the world right in my own back yard.

Recently the news is all about “immigration” and our national concerns for security. I find “security” in my own back yard and in my community. Before you respond to the hype and fear about immigration (legal or undocumented) let me tell you about my community.

I am a small business man who has modestly prospered in this curious setting. I have come to embrace the fine people that are immigrating to my community. They have become the life blood that has allowed our community to continue to prosper in a time when the demographics are completely against us.

Our community is located just south of the mythical “Lake Wobegon,” but we've begun to defy those demographic characteristics.

Our accommodation of the newest immigrants started about 25 years ago with Vietnamese and Laotian peoples. It has continued throughout the decades and has been of great benefit to this community, a community that would have demographically drifted off the chart because of an aging population.

Many of my Lao and Vietnamese friends are here because they stood up for American ideals, risking both their lives and the lives of their families, much to their credit. In quiet moments, I have heard their stories; they have have brought tears to my eyes, and I have a profound respect for them.

American Idealism? I have not sacrificed like they have sacrificed. If they would tell you their stories, you would have a new found respect for the immigrant experience. Immigration doesn’t happen because things are dandy. Immigration happens because people are at the limits of their own (moral) tolerance.

Today , I can take my three-block walk to work and say “Hello” to my neighbors in many different languages: Sai Bai Dee (Lao), Buenos Dias (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador ), De Tu Jot (Sudanese) Djow Go (Vietnamese), Ka May La ha (Ethiopian), Mengalaba (Karen). These are perhaps crude renditions of their words, but speaking the greetings allows me a comfort zone with my new neighbors. I have them sign an atlas in my store, which allows me the ability to understand where they have come from, and oftentimes, it allows me to understand some of their travails.

They all enjoy and appreciate my attempt to speak in their native tongues (they laugh at me), as they continue to become assimilated into our community. We are a small community and we strive to make sure that no one is anonymous.

Assimilate: they have! I am convinced that these new immigrants have saved my community. They have purchased homes, they have purchased cars, they have kept our grocery stores busy. They have created their own grocery stores. Many have started their own businesses, some try and some fail--for that I think more of them, not less.

They are the new graduates at the local community college. They have become the New Worthington. There might be a few people that consider this immigration a threat--those folks are prone to fear a loss of their standing within their perceived place within our community. The good news is that the majority of folks around these parts recognize that this “immigration thing” is of great value to our community.

If you are looking for the latest trendy shopping mall or strip mall (filled with brand named stores), Worthington might not be the place for you. We do have many standardized big box stores; however, if you are looking for a real “WORLD MARKET” experience, I encourage you to come and visit Worthington.

It won’t be completely standardized with all the generic brand name stores, but if you have a truly adventuresome spirit, you can enjoy a real World Market experience. Ma and Pa stores are sprouting up as we speak, and they embody the new entrepreneurial spirit of Worthington.

Immigration has never been clean and tidy; it has a learning curve. My community, Worthington has stepped up to the plate and embraced that spirit of accommodation. We learn from our friends, we learn from our new found immigrants, we learn from being able to say, "I don’t understand you, explain to me, again." That is what it means to be accommodating. We aren’t afraid to understand our new neighbors. We recognize that “They” are "Our" new beginnings. We have been re-invented and though we do make mistakes, we recover and strive to learn from them. We have every reason to stand tall and be proud.

Worthington has benefited from its new found immigrants and I suspect history will eventually write a new chapter about this community and its accommodating spirit.

Hagedorn compares the crisis to a "flash mob" prompted by a "text" from Obama, an executive order halting deportations of young immigrants who grew up in this country after being bought to the United States by their undocumented parents.

For Hagedorn, it's another opportunity to get offensive in the pursuit of his ambition to beat endorsed Republican candidate Aaron Miller by appealing to the basest of the base. We suspect he's going for the Brat anti-immigration mojo that put the Virginia econ prof on the path to defeating former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in their district's primary.

Republican congressional candidate Jim Hagedorn (MN-1), Blue Earth, harshly criticized President Obama and congressional proponents of the DREAM Act and amnesty for illegal aliens for failure to defend the sovereignty of the United States and protect the nation from a huge flood of illegal immigration.

Hagedorn charged that Obama’s 2012 executive order nullifying deportation of illegal aliens brought into the United States before they turned age 16, and no older than 30, has led to the recent influx of tens of thousands of Central American trespassers, causing chaos for the Border Patrol, massive taxpayer liability and probable entrance of Islamic terrorists, drug smugglers and gang members into the United States.

“Obama’s 2012 executive order halting deportation of so called Dreamers, which I believe to be unconstitutional, and the reckless push for amnesty by liberal members of Congress like Tim Walz, effectively served as a text message to entice tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to gather as a “flash mob” on the North side of the Rio Grande,” said Hagedorn. [emphasis added]

This is malarkey. Perhaps the best examination of the situation are found in the Cato Institute's write-up by Alex Nowraseth, Unaccompanied Minors Crossing the Border–The Facts. The analyst walks readers through the details, poiting out that the reluctance to immediately deport the children isn't based in DREAMer politics, but another law entirely:

The real bottleneck is in detention facilities, not the numbers of border patrol agents on the ground. As the New York Timesreported:

“While the Obama administration has moved aggressively to deport adults, it has in fact expelled far fewer children than in the past. Largely because of a 2008 federal law aimed at protecting trafficked children, the administration in 2013 deported one-fifth the number of Central American children as were expelled in 2008, according to federal government statistics.”

The 2008 act, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008, forced U.S. official to inquire into the vulnerability of unaccompanied minors to trafficking and other forms of abuse. U.S. officials were then only allowed to deport the children quickly if they make a voluntary decision to return. Longer processing times created by the 2008 act mean longer wait times for the minors in immigration detention facilities.

She [Elizabeth Kennedy, a doctoral candidate at San Diego State University] has studied the crisis from both sides of the U.S. border, including a stint now as a Fulbright fellow in El Salvador. All the Salvadoran children must cross Mexico at some point to get to the U.S. — and many are intercepted and turned back by Mexican authorities. Kennedy has collected over 400 interviews by going to the migrant return center and talking with waiting family members and their children once they arrive.

“Most of the children I meet at the bus return center will try again, and some will reach the United States,” she said. “I’m in contact with 20 who have done so since I got here in October. I’m sure others have arrived and have elected not to stay in contact with me.”

“Over 90 percent of child migrants here have a family member in the U.S,” Kennedy said. “Despite these numbers, less than a third mention family reunification as a reason for emigrating. More often than not, their neighborhood has become so dangerous or they have been so seriously threatened, that to stay is to wait for their own death or great harm to their family. Their neighborhoods are full of gangs. Their schools are full of gangs. They do not want to join for moral and political reasons and thus see no future.”

“In only one of 400-plus interviews did a child migrant ask about the DREAM Act and immigration reform. … Fifteen had heard that the U.S. system treated children differently than adults and wanted to know how. In all 15 cases, the child had received a threat to join the gang or be killed, and some had then been beat or raped when they refused to join.”

So it's not the DREAM Act (children coming in now aren't covered by it or the President's order or even perceptions about the DREAM Act that's motivating them. The Arizona Republic reports in Republicans blaming Obama for border crisis:

Given the humanitarian aspect to the crisis, Republicans run a risk if they overly politicize the situation, said Louis DeSipio, a professor of political science and Chicano/Latino studies at the University of California-Irvine.

"This really has nothing to do with some long-term plan to create some new form of legal status, but instead it suggests the desperation of parents in Central America," DeSipio said. "The Obama administration also is responding to a bureaucratic problem, which they legitimately have. We don't have the detention space for this many young people, and we didn't really expect them to all appear at the same time."

So why is this happening? Immigration experts tend to point to possible "push factors" — reasons for migrants to leave their home countries — and "pull factors," or reasons for migrants to come to (in this case) the United States:

1) Children are being "pushed" by violence in Central America. Megan McKenna of Kids in Need of Defense, a group that works with unaccompanied migrant children, says that the children her group works with point to violence in their home countries as the primary reason they left. "They're telling us stories of gangs and criminal elements coming into their communities and forcing them to join a gang or some kind of criminal activity, and when they say no, they and their family members are subject to threats and violence," she says. "It's a refugee-like situation."

Indeed, the children coming to the United States appear to be increasingly more vulnerable — implying it's just getting less and less possible to stay in their home countries. Over the past few years, the average age of these unaccompanied children has dropped. And a larger proportion are girls — even though, McKenna says, "it's widely known they'll be a victim of sexual abuse" during the journey through Mexico. "It points to the sheer desperation of these kids in trying to leave their home country."

2) Children are being "pulled" by a desire or need to be reunited with family. Another reason so many children are coming to the United States — they have family here. According to a recent Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees survey,over a third of Central American children who had crossed the border alone had one or both parents in the United States. It's typical for migrant families to send children once other relatives have gotten settled in the US, but when their relatives here are unauthorized immigrants, the kids have to come illegally — and dangerously — too.

3) Children are being "pulled" by lenient US policy — particularly a 2008 law by Congress. There are also more controversial theories. This week, for instance, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee released a statement arguing that the Obama administration's overly lenient policies on immigration "have led to a surge of minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border."

The evidence doesn't bear this out. For instance, Republicans have pointed to a policy by the Obama administration to defer deportation for certain youths in the United States. Yet that policy wasn't enacted until 2012 — eight months before the current surge of child migrants began in October 2011. (That policy also doesn't apply to new immigrants.)

It is true that the US government treats child migrants who arrive at the border more leniently than adults — but that's the result of a law passed by Congress in 2008, called the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. When children who come unaccompanied aren't getting deported, it might end up inspiring more children to come. But even here, the evidence is ambiguous. One researcher from San Diego State University found that only 15 of the 400 migrants she interviewed even knew that US immigration law treated unaccompanied children differently.

It's not simply cruel of Hagedorn to characterize the crisis as a "flash mob." It's cruelty at the service of bad policy.

Democrats are taking aim at a Republican congressional candidate for blog comments they say are offensive toward women and minorities.

Jim Hagedorn, of Blue Earth, Minn., recently removed several posts from his blog, called “Mr. Conservative," before announcing this week that he was running for the 1st District House seat held by two-term Democrat Tim Walz.

Examples of posts include one about the “nomination of White House legal hack Harriet Miers to fill the bra of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor." Another refers to alleged voter fraud in the 2002 South Dakota election involving American Indians. He writes that “many of the votes registered for absentee ballots were found to be chiefs and squaws who returned to the spirit world many moons ago." He goes on to write “Leave it to liberals to ruin John Wayne’s wisdom of the only good Indian being a dead Indian."

Minnesota DFL party chairman Brian Melendez called Hagedorn’s posts “racist" and said they prove he is a right-wing extremist courting Tea Party members.

“If I had racist posts out there, and I was running for office, I would want to hide them, too," Melendez said.

But Hagedorn said he removed the posts prior to 2004 only because they were outdated. He said he was writing the blog as a political satirist and it is not meant to be offensive.

Hagedorn is government relations director for Electromed Inc., based in New Prague, Minn. His father Tom Hagedorn is a former Republican congressman who represented southern Minnesota.

‘I poke fun at everybody’

“I understand that some of the folks on the left aren’t going to like what I write," he said. “I poke fun at everybody, including Republicans."

Another post receiving attention is one about the late Sen. Paul Wellstone’s funeral. He wrote: “About the memorial service. Was it just me or did it not seem as if someone bailed out the union thugs; tree huggers; abortion rights feminists; peaceniks; citizens for gay animal rights; NAMBLA members and the other Marxist sympathizers who protested at last month’s IMF meetings, and transported them to Wellstone’s memorial in a slew of green buses? Talk about lefties all in one convenient location. Hopefully after the ceremony they fumigated the arena." . . .

Lovely.

Judging from the latest article about Hagedorn in the online-only Mankato Times, it looks like Hagedorn has revived the spirit of "Mr. Conservative" to pin the humanitarian crisis occurring on American's southern border on Congressman Walz.

Walz's immigration white paper in 2008

Update: Hagedorn did not contact us with the requested documentation, but posted it to his Facebook page

Here's the video--and Hagedorn is right about the attack on Gutknecht's vote.

The attack on the vote appears to have been a standard barb by Democratic candidates in the 2006 campaign. Some Republicans fought back, as in the case of Representative Charles Taylor of North Carolina, although he incorrectly claimed that the omnibus bill didn't contain the refugee amnesty provision.

Taylor voted for a bill on Oct. 20, 1998 that included the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act - HR 4328, Whalen said. The U.S. Immigration Support lists the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act as one of several laws that have granted amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Numbers USA, a conservative immigration reform group, states on its Web site that "the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act is an amnesty program for Haitians."

It will be interesting to see if Hagedorn campaigns for or against Gutknecht's vote, given its low scoring by NUMBERS USA--or if he thinks attacking Walz on the basis of the ad alone is enough to triumph over endorsed candidate Aaron Miller in the primary. While Hagedorn touts his own campaigning, the MIller Facebook page suggests that Byron Republican's public appearances aren't a lonely enterprise.

Original material:

Hagedorn also makes claims about Walz's positions on immigration in the 2006 upset victory against Gil Gutknecht. In the Manakto Times article, Hagedorn claims:

As the criticism of Gutknecht (who brought Iowa xenophobe, Rep. Steve King, into the district to discuss immigration in the term before the Minnesota Republican's defeat), here's what's in Walz's 2006 white paper:

Southern Minnesota’s Representative Gil Gutknecht supports immigration legislation that is not only simplistic and purposely divisive, it also fails to solve our immigration problems. Gutknecht supports HR 698, which would repeal the principle of birthright citizenship that benefited many of our ancestors. Gutknecht is also co-sponsoring the Border Protection Corps Act (HR 3622,) which would authorize governors to draft citizens to patrol national borders. These extremist proposals complement the House legislation that criminalizes acts of kindness (HR 4437,) which Gutknecht also cosponsored.

These extreme proposals have been rejected by border-state Republicans such as John McCain, George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger. . . .

The proposals of several right-wing lawmakers expand the definition of “smuggling” immigrants, putting churches, non-profits and hospitals in a position where acting as a good Samaritan would mean breaking the law. Some Republican Senators have proposed amendments to immigration bills that would require anyone planning to provide meals, clothing or other charitable assistance to undocumented immigrants to register with the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone else attempting to offer services to illegal aliens could be arrested. These proposals are a slap in the face to religious communities who live by the principle of social justice

Jun 09, 2014

At last Monday's SW Metro Tea Party meeting exploring the Property Rights Alert: MN Land & Water Grab, Southeastern Minnesota Irrigators Association officer and organizer Nora Felton bashed brown trout as an "invasive species," going on to imply a parallel between the fish and "another issue" affecting the United States.

We presume the speaker implies children born in the United States of immigrant parents are a problem.

. . .I call this the Minnesota delta smelt situation, because the other thing you need to know is that brown trout are not only not native to Minnesota, they are not native to America. Period. So we are holding back water for a species that really should be considered an invasive specie [sic], and then someone had the gall to say, well, once they spawn in a river, the offspring are no longer invasive species.[Laughter]

Felton puts her finger her lips and looks around, eyes rolled upward.

Kind of reminds me of another problem that we have in this country [shrugs] but I won't go into that. [muffled sounds from the audience]

So anyway, at which point I suggested to them then that we don't really have a problem with the zebra mussels or any of the other problems that we have on the Mississippi River, right, and I can't remember, the walking fish, but you know what I mean.

Brown trout were introduced more than a century ago and have become naturalized. . . .

The other trout now in this state are brown trout and rainbow trout. Both were introduced to Minnesota in the late 1800s. The rainbow is native to western North America and the brown is native to Germany. Brown trout are the hardiest of the trout species and as a result can tolerate water warmer and less clear than rainbows and especially brook trout require.

Perhaps that term "naturalized" is what prompted her to confuse trout with people 9maybe she's just deeply xenophobic). She certainly seems confused about naturalized game species like brown trout--the ring-necked pheasant of Minnesota's rivers and creeks. Pheasants were imported to Minnesota from China in 1881; neither naturalized species is considered invasive. That is: neither has adverse affect on native fish or birds.

Like the exotic pheasant and native species like deer, ducks and walleye, Minnesota's brown trout are encouraged by public dollars and private groups. In the Vermillion River watershed, Trout Unlimited's Twin Cities has put three years of Legacy Funds to work to improve trout habitat. Statewide, Trout Unlimited has received over $7 million for various trout habitat projects from the Lessard funds, while Pheasants Forver has received $45.5 million.

Felton, who sources indicate is married to Doug Felton, chairman of the board of directors of the $83 billion co-operative lending institution Agribank, made the statement in a rambling presentation about state Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture programs.

Her talk was followed by remarks by Warren Formo, Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center executive director. Ironically enough, one of Felton's targets was the Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework. Formo co-chaired the Agricultural Use Technical Work Team Report for the Framework project.

We'll have more gems from this SW Metro Tea Party event as we unpack Felton and Formo's statements and audience questions. As one might expect, some among the SW Metro Tea Party audience attributed DNR and EPA policies to Agenda 21.

Representative Cindy Pugh (R-Chanhassen) introduced the speakers.

Video still: Nora Felton speaking at the SW Metro Tea Party.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button below:

Apr 12, 2014

According to a report in the Mankato Free Press, Evolution talk sparks campaign rhetoric, Aaron Miller's campaign isn't just removing comments from liberals outraged by national reporting on his views on teaching evolution in schools.

MFP political reporter Josh Moniz has reached out to conservative Republican leaders who've had their questions removed:

. . . The majority of the removed comments dealt with Miller's evolution comments. However, the most notable comments removed were from longtime conservative activists Ruthie Hendrycks and Lynne Torgerson. Both women separately posted criticisms of Miller not having a list of his positions on major issues on his campaign website.

Torgerson, the founder at Christians United in Politics, said she regularly seeks to have candidates be vocal on their religious views and stances on important issues. She said this public display is essential for the future of the country.

She confirmed she had posted on Miller's website and said she never removed the comment.

"He should not have removed our comments or hid his positions," Torgerson said.

When asked about the removed comments, Meyer said they removed the comments because they were concerned Hendrycks and Torgerson would be associated negatively with further comments added to their posts.

Torgerson, an independent candidate, devotes a third of her "Issues" page to "Freedom of Religion," but she explains that Islam "is not 'religion' recognizable under the First Amendment" because it wants to "kill people not of their faith" and to "Islamize the entire world." (Torgerson aligns with the Catholic Church, which has never killed a nonbeliever or converted a wayward, thank Allah.)

[Brian and Tina Hansen of Mantorville] were among more than 100 people who cheered for protecting marriage as one man and one woman during a rally at Calvary Baptist Church in northwest Rochester Sunday and were encouraged to personally contact legislators to stop a bill that would allow same-sex marriage. The rally was part of the Minnesota for Marriage RV caravan that's going around the state, trying to get those against the same-sex bill to stop it. . . .

While Miller might not put his positions on issues on his campaign website, it's unlikely that Southern Minnesotans won't be able to figure out where the cat is at.

Photo: Anti-Muslim activist Lynne Torgerson, whose reputation the Miller campaign is so defending by deleted her question on its Facebook page.

Mar 30, 2014

With a fast and furious legislative session underway, Bluestem hadn't read the Central Minnesota Tea Party Blog for a while, and so we missed a fantabolus post from March 25, 2014, Transgender day in Browerville/ Muslims in Little Falls, wherein the anonymous blogger concludes:

I sent a note to Rep Ron Kresha and Sen Paul Gazelka and informed them of all of this and asked why it is even possible that Rep Keith Ellison can legally be a Rep in our govt when he has ties to CAIR, which is a front for the Muslim Brotherhood! Ron is doing some checking on this and will get back to me.

That fear seems familar, and indeed, Bluestem's editor recalls that one issue some Americans raised about Article Six during the adoption of the United States Constitution was that it might open the doors of leadership to "Jews Turks & infidels." However, the question of a religious test is settled, according to a scholar at the Heritage Foundation.

For this anonymous individual, any possibility that Muslims might live and go to school in her or his community is cause for alarm and evidence for a conspiracy. Earlier in the post:

I heard on 960 AM yesterday that the Initiative Foundation and Catholic Charities are planning an apartment complex to start moving in the Muslims into Little Falls. Evidently that was why they scheduled their meeting last fall – with CAIR and the Priest hosting it, but the meeting was canceled due to weather and to the Priest’s father passing away. It was not rescheduled to date. But that, of course, was to get us to trust them and to get us to be nice neighbors, and to accept their decision to do this. Anyway, it was on the radio the other day again that evidently they have decided to do this so many of us are livid! I have heard so much of how they have destroyed St. Cloud – the schools had to add foot baths and they just do whatever it is they want during school, not even trying to simulate into our society and then wonder why they are not liked and people are not neighborly. I have heard that their goal is to get a group started in all the small town areas throughout our state and then grow.

Why, the very nerve of people to think that in 2014, Americans of all origins and faiths can live wherever they like! If only the Central Minnesota Tea Party could roll the clock back fifty years. (Not).

Bluestem believes that we know who the anonoblogger is, as the particular CMTPP organizer is obsessed with Ellison and CAIR, but we're looking for confirmation.

Photo: After signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson hands Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. one of the pens used to sign the landmark legislation.

Dec 14, 2013

An unsigned December 14, 2013 post on the Central Minnesota Tea Party blog, Attend this urgent St. Cloud Meeting, calls for a moratorium on new refugee settlement in St. Cloud, while decrying the growth of the city and influx of immigrants into the area as a matter of "survival."

Never mind that the meeting was held December 11 (although the post may have been drawn from an earlier email).

Concerned citizens of St. Cloud should ask for a moratorium on the large influx of refugees …Mr. Salad was quoted at a Council Meeting that there are 13,000 Somalis here now and they plan to double their numbers in a few years. Our City must step back and study the 2010 census figures compared to the 2000 numbers…..and ask ourselves can we continue to amass larger and larger numbrs of immigrants to the detriment of others (low income seniors and handicapped) that we used to say were our priority? How many people that need everything can continue to pour into our City? Where is the tipping point when our City cannot function? These are not racist questions; these are logical questions. How can we be labeled racist if we continue to care about our needy Senior Citizens and our handicapped? Right now the waiting list is closed for them to receive HRA housing.

If you care about the survival of our City for residents new and old please come to this meeting and ask questions and state your opinion.

Apparently the Central Minnesota Tea Party Patriots don't think liberty and freedom apply to Somali people and the Lutherans who help them--even while area Republican Dan Severson leads outreach to the Somali community in the Twin Cities via the Minority Liberty Caucus.

Sadly, the Central Minnesota Tea Party look to posts by an Islamophobic anti-immigration conservative leader based in Maryland for leadership.

When we first began writing RRW, St. Cloud was a city that secondary migrants (initially resettled somewhere else in the US) went to looking for meatpacker employment, but along the way the contractors and the US State Department began resettling refugees in St. Cloud directly from the third world. See this 2010 post.

I know it’s difficult because when you ask questions (even polite questions!) the Lutherans and others will say you sound racist, but if you live in the area and can get there, it is important for citizens with concerns to not stay silent. Make them answer questions that you have researched in advance so that you know basically what the answer is. It is the best way to expose the veracity of their answers.***

. . .*** Now, if you plan to attend the meeting, go to our extensive archive on St. Cloud and read from our earliest postin May of 2008. It is a wonderful history of how community organizers are reshaping St. Cloud (and Minnesota generally).

Learn about Mohamoud Mohamed at RRW and search for his activities on the net. The photo is from this story.

Check out the news last week that Somalis want their own radio station in St. Cloud to broadcast to their people, here, in Somali! Will Minnesota be the first Muslim state in America, some are making that prediction.

Here's the St. Cloud Times news brief that's generated the anti-Somali heat from the tea party and Resettlement Watch:

Lutheran Social Service will discuss issues affecting the refugee community in St. Cloud in the first of a quarterly event.

The consultation is a chance for the agency to provide updates and to receive feedback regarding the refugee resettlement process.

Refugees, churches, local government, community agencies, schools, employers, landlords and anyone else who would like to attend are invited.

The event will take place from 1:30-3 p.m. Dec. 11 at the St. Cloud Public Library in downtown St. Cloud.

Okey-dokey.

Resettlement Watch, Ann Corcoran, and the Nativist Wing of the Tea Party

Since the Central Minnesota Tea Party Patriots don't seem to be paying attention to folks like Severson, whose leadership are they following in demanding that the government dictated who can live in their fair city?

The Tea Party Immigration Coalition emerged at the end of 2010 when Rick Oltman published an "Immigration Contract with America." This quasi-manifesto included ending birthright citizenship "by statute," adding, "The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was not adopted to confer citizenship on those born to illegal aliens."[64] . . .

This new anti-immigrant Tea Party has attracted a mix of at least ten different Tea Party and local nativist groups from the states of Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Texas, and Pennsylvania.[66] . . .

Further, Oltman has been explicit about tying new Tea Parties specifically to the older Nativist Establishment: "TPIC supports the efforts of national immigration policy groups such as NumbersUSA, FAIR, the Immigration Reform Caucus and the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus of the House of Representatives."[68]

A con­fer­ence spon­sored by the Mary­land Con­ser­v­a­tive Action Net­work is due to take place in Annapo­lis on Jan­u­ary 12, 2013. The con­fer­ence, titled “Turn­ing the Tides 2013” brings together many of the main anti-immigrant voices in the state as well as some speak­ers known for their anti-Muslim state­ments and associations. . . .

Pamela Geller – co-founder of Stop the Islamiza­tion of Amer­ica (SOIA), a group seek­ing to rouse pub­lic fears about a “vast Islamic con­spir­acy” to destroy Amer­i­can val­ues. Geller also works closely with far-right groups and fig­ures in Europe, such as the Eng­lish Defense League (EDL) and anti-Muslim Dutch politi­cian Geert Wilders.

Diana West – author and jour­nal­ist who writes about the “dan­gers” of Islam. In a Sep­tem­ber 15, 2012 post on her web­site, West wrote “Indeed, it is this basic Islamic cen­sor­ship that is at the crux of why Islam itself — not ‘Islamism,’ not ‘rad­i­cal Islam,’ not ‘Islamists’” but Islam — is an exis­ten­tial threat to the sur­vival of any free soci­ety.” In 2007, West met with mem­bers of the racist and xeno­pho­bic Bel­gian polit­i­cal party Vlaams Belang.

Refugee Resettlement Watch itself is nativism with a heavy Islamophobic glaze. According to its About page:

Six years ago it came to our attention in Washington County MD that a non-profit group (Virginia Council of Churches) had been bringing refugees into the city of Hagerstown (county seat) for a couple of years. Some problems arose and citizens started to take an interest and ask questions about how this federal program works. Our local paper had no interest in finding the facts, so we decided to find them ourselves.

One of the many startling things we found out about this very quiet effort is that these non-profit groups bring to the US on average each year 15,000 (FY90-FY03) Muslim refugees from the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, etc, almost completely funded by the US Government through grants and contracts to these non-government agencies. Of the 168 refugees brought to our county since 2004, 125 are Muslim. Although we all have sympathy for persecuted and suffering people there are real questions to be answered about the wisdom of this policy.

And they so don't care what you call them as they struggle to keep Muslims out of the streets and off the airwaves of Central Minnesota, Maryland and elsewhere:

Sorry, this got much longer than I intended, but one final thing. Judy and I don’t care what you call us! Some of you reading this have for way too long intimidated and silenced people you disagree with by calling them racists, xenophobes, hatemongers and on and on and on. It doesn’t work here, in fact, when you start with that sort of attack and don’t address the issues we raise, it validates our work.

Dan Severson, Senator Dan Hall, and the Minority Liberty Alliance will have their work cut out for them in wooing New Americans to the Republican Party in the St. Cloud area if the Central Minnesota Tea Party continues in this direction.

Calls on the local Tea Party's part for "moratoriums" on refugee resettlement and fearmongering about immigrants fueling the Granite City's growth won't help the Republican Party's image elsewhere either, regardless of how long that new lease on Franklin Avenue may last.

Dec 10, 2013

The Austin American Statesman and Fox Latino may be sharing the opinions of Cafe Con Leche Republicans leader Bob Quasius with their audiences, but the Federal Election Commission has mailed a different sort of story to the Marshall, Minnesota based Republican pro-immigration group.

A letter dated December 4, 2013, announcing the commission's intent to administratively terminate the PAC, has been sent to the committee and posted online at the agency's website. We embed a copy of the pdf below.

The letter begins:

Pursuant to 2 U.S.C. §433(d)(2) of the Federal Election Campaign Act, and Commission regulations at 11 CFR §102.4, the Commission intends to administratively terminate your committee. As such, your committee is no longer obligated to file reports. However, any receipt or disbursement of funds by the committee for the purpose of influencing a Federal election or supporting a federal candidate will void the administrative termination. In such an event, the committee will be required to begin filing reports with the appropriate office. The first such report will include any activity since the date of the last report filed by the committee. The treasurer of the committee has 30 days from the day of receipt of this notice to object to this administrative termination. If a written objection is not received by the Commission within 30 days, this action will take effect. [emphasis added]

Since the PAC has 30 days to appeal the decision, the action is not yet final. Robert T. Quasius Sr is the treasurer of the PAC. Since organizing in 2011, the organization has yet to file a report of receipts and disbursements with the commission, which sent the PAC its latest failure to file notice on August 22, 2013. The notice covered the period from 1/01/2013 through 6/30/2013.

Contributions will be used to fund Cafe Con Leche Republican’s operations and to support candidates who reflect our values and mission. You can contribute via PayPal, or by mailing a check or money order to: P.O. Box 214, Marshall, MN 56258Cafe Con Leche Republicans is a federal political action committee (FEC ID C00505115). Contributions to the organization are not deductible for Federal income tax purposes as charitable contributions. To comply with Federal law, we must use our best efforts to obtain, maintain, and submit the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 per calendar year.

It is not possible at this time to determine if the committee is receiving contributions via this online solicitation or disbursing funds to candidates or for other activity, since no reports have been filed. Should any money come in or be spent by the committee, it would appear from the letter that that activity would void the termination process.

A non-Hispanic resident of Marshall and Lyon County who is married to an immigrant from Honduras, Quasius has been active in recent efforts by the Republican Party of Minnesota to reach out to voters in communities of color and New Americans in immigrant communities. Quasius recently took part in CD4 Republicans' Latino Outreach Conference on Marketing Conservative Solutions to Latino voters on October 12.

Other efforts within the party include the Minority Liberty Alliance. The Republican Party of Minnesota's move to East Franklin Avenue from near the Minnesota State Capitol, on the other hand, places the party in a less diverse and and more affluent neighborhood, the Star Tribune reports, than the old neighborhood "with a population that skews heavily Hmong and African-American."

While the party has grown less strident about immigration than during the Pawlenty years, it's not quite mastered the transformation that Quasius has navigated since opposing immigration reform as a supporter of 2006 CD7 Republican congressional candidate Michael Barrett. His 2006 letter to the Fergus Falls Daily Journal, Amnesty is the wrong course for America, is a testament to how a leader's position can change from an unwillingness to create a pathway to citizenship for "illegal aliens" to a recent column supporting immigration reform while noting objections to the phrase "illegal immigrant."

Nov 29, 2013

The first Hispanic to win a seat on Minneapolis City Council earlier this month grew up in Litchfield and, during her time here, overcame many challenges associated with being an outsider.

Moving from Mexico at age 10, Alondra Espejel Cano didn’t know English when she entered fifth grade at Wagner Elementary School in 1991. . . .

Life also wasn’t easy for her parents, who worked long hours for various poultry producers, including Sparboe, Jennie-O Turkey and Gold’n Plump. “Like a lot of immigrant families that come to this country, my parents did the hard labor at a lot of places where many people don’t want to work,” she said. . . .

Read the whole thing at the Independent Review. The article concludes with an observation by Cano's high school American and world history teacher, Greg Mathews, who wasn't surprised that she won the seat:

He added, “If you’re talking about someone who’s living the American Dream, it’s Alondra.”

Photo: Minneapolis City Council member-elect Alondra Espejel Cano, who moved to Meeker County from Mexico at age 10, then attended the U of M after graduating from LHS.

A community group in St. Cloud has applied for a low-power FM radio license from the FCC that would allow them to broadcast news and music for Somali-Americans in and around St. Cloud.

Organizers said they expect to receive approval from the FCC as soon as this week, and that they hope to start broadcasting on the air by spring.

For more than a year, KVSC-FM at St. Cloud State University and the nonprofit St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization worked together to create St. Cloud Somali Radio. In a project funded partially by a state Legacy grant, community members launched a 24-hour webstream of Somali music and news in March.

Mohamoud Mohamed, executive director of SASSO, said expanding to the airwaves was the next logical step. He said the radio station will serve the estimated 13,000 Somali-American immigrants who live in the area, many of whom speak primarily Somali.

Collins reports that the project will educate its listeners about their own history, civic engagement, the United States Constitution and other topics. The project initially faced distrust by some within the Somali community, but won over skeptics who had feared mischief; now it anticipates some resistance from those who fear or resent Somalis living in the area.

Protesters gathered Tuesday outside a St. Cloud temporary employment agency to decry what they call its shoddy treatment of workers.

At least 60 protesters lined 25th Avenue South outside the St. Cloud office of The Work Connection, a St. Paul-based agency. They criticized the agency’s use of a pay-card method to disburse workers’ wages, said the agency has fired workers unfairly and treats many workers, particularly Somali workers, with disrespect.

Protesters also called on St. Cloud-based GNP Company, which contracts with The Work Connection to fill jobs at its Cold Spring processing facility, to hire workers directly.

The event was organized by the Greater Minnesota Worker Center, a new St. Cloud-based group that aims to help low-wage workers get better pay and working conditions.

One of the workers Sommerhauser interviewed told the Times that The Work Connection singles out Somali workers for exploitation:

[Mustafe] Abdulahi said some of what he describes as poor treatment of workers by The Work Connection seems to be directed at Somalis and other immigrants.

He said people who don’t speak flawless English face curt treatment from its staff and sometimes are unfairly eliminated from consideration for job placement.

“We are expecting that they will treat us equally and also that they will treat our community as other agencies do,” Abdulahi said.

The Labor Education Service at the U documents the action in this video:

. . .Last night—Worker Center Watch, a new website dedicated to attacking labor-affiliated activist groups like OUR Walmart, Restaurant Opportunities Center, and Fast Food Forward—began sponsoring advertisements on Twitter to promote smears against the protests planned for Black Friday. In one video sponsored by the group, activists demanding a living wage and better working conditions for workers are portrayed as lazy “professional protesters” who “haven’t bothered to get jobs themselves.” . . .

TheNation.com has discovered that Worker Center Watch was registered by the former head lobbyist for Walmart. Parquet Public Affairs, a Florida-based government relations and crisis management firm for retailers and fast food companies, registered the Worker Center Watch website. ..

Check it out.

Estar in el Prairie in Stevens County

Over in Stevens County, the organizers of the Estar in el Prairie have launched a Facebook page to get the word out for an innovative project in the West Central county that's home to the University of Minnesota- Morris campus.

Portraits of Western Minnesota’s Emerging Latino Community Retratos de nuestra nueva comunidad latina

Description

From 2000 to 2010, the Latino population in Steven’s County increased by 234%. In order to put faces and stories to this number, we are pairing photographers in the Morris area with Latino members of the community. There are two goals associated with this project.

1. Document this migration. We ask participants to share positive experiences in the community and write about them in both English and Spanish. Photographers then take photos of the participants holding a white board with each phrase.

2.Create a space for communication. Given the cultural and language barriers many new immigrants face, connection between established communities and new groups is often difficult. We hope that this project can begin to create relationships between photographers and participants that extend into the greater community and future.

We have already paired six photographers with participants and received eight pairs of photos (examples attached). At this phase of our project, we are seeking funds to professionally print 20 photos (10 pairs.) We plan to showcase the prints in prominent locations around Morris such as the PRCA, Common Cup, and the library. We have also been approached by CURE in Montevideo concerning a travelling exhibit throughout Western Minnesota.

Photos: Yusuf and Prchal talk in a studio at St. Cloud State University’s KVSC 88.1 FM in Stewart Hall 9middle, via Kismaayo Daily).Workers in St. Cloud (middle) via MN AFL-CIO ; a photo from the Estar in el Prairie (below) Paul Cortes and Keni Zenner as part of the portrait project. Copyright 2013, Nic McPhee. Please credit the photographer and better yet, like the page on Facebook.

Nov 22, 2013

A friend has been spending time in Washington, D.C., working for immigration reform; part of the coalition asking for change is a broad swath of the nation's faith community, from Roman Catholic social justice groups and Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners to the National Association of Evangelicals and the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.

Last week, eight members of clergy met with the President in the Oval Office to discuss reform, and Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, closed the meeting with a prayer, Religion News Service staff writer Sarah Pulliam Bailey reported in PHOTO: Obama, Biden holding hands during Russell Moore prayer on immigration:

White House photographer Pete Souza posted a photo last night of President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden holding hands during a prayer at the end of a meeting on immigration.

As Speaker of the House John Boehner signaled there would be no immigration legislation by the end of the year, members of Obama’s administration met with leaders on Wednesday.

The closing prayer was led by Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, one of the eight clergy invited to the Oval Office meeting. Moore’s prayer was extemporaneous so his spokeswoman said there is no text from the prayer available. . . .

Some may find it heartwarming, others may find it disturbing, and still others might find it downright weird! The oddity in question is the picture, tweeted out by White House reporter Pete Souza, featuring the abortion-supporting Roman Catholic Vice President Joe Biden and Barack Obama, the crucifix-covering Commander-in-Chief, grasping each other’s hand in prayer.

The president and his main squeeze … er, I mean main sidekick, Joe Robinette Biden, Jr., gathered together with other faith leaders to discuss how to go about foisting thirty million gate-crashing interlopers on the American people.

. . .The heartwarming moment took place while asking an unnamed higher power for blessings and direction on how to go about finding a way to allow criminals who broke the law to remain in America.

. . .The result [the photograph] was a historic record of two great leaders, unabashed in their devotion to God. America’s momentous half-black Muslim-raised president Barack Obama and Joe the Irish-Catholic guy with the bad hair plugs simultaneously displaying affection for each other while humbling themselves before the Almighty in the name of comprehensive immigration reform.

Well then. That's some awesome imagination about a prayer to which she had no access. Either that, or she's divinely inspired. Or something. Never mind the other people in the prayer circle who, though out of focus, also appear to be holding hands, as is custom when folks pray.

It's difficult for Bluestem to wrap our mind around DeAngelis' notion that Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, is going to pray to some unnamed higher power after he asked his companions to join hands in prayer.

Certainly is the most peculiar attempt at argument against immigration reform that we've read, outside of a Bradlee Dean radio rant.

Moore and his friends seem to have had other ideas about why the Baptist pastor ended up visiting the Oval Office. Here's a sample call and response on twitter:

Far more worrisome concerning this photo for Bluestem? The White House policy banning press photographers, while distributing those snapped by the house photographer. Politico's Hadas Gold reports in Media protest White House photo ban:

. . .The White House often releases official government photos and videos in lieu of allowing photojournalists to cover events with the president. The WHCA letter lists several occasions when photographers were barred, only to have the White House release "official" photos, some on social media. They include meetings with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Hillary Clinton, and Malala Yousafzai.

"While certain of these events may appear 'private' in nature, the decision of the White House to release its own contemporaneous photograph(s) suggests that the White House believes these events are, in fact, newsworthy and not private," the WHCA writes. . . .

. . . At least one person who attended the tea party meeting, Lenore Felix of Collegeville Township, believes the health care law has its origins with the United Nations. Felix’s question to Bachmann prompted the congresswoman’s comments about the U.N.

Felix, of Collegeville Township, said she believes the health care law was created by an international group that includes the United Nations, George Soros — a billionaire who donates to liberal political groups — and the Environmental Protection Agency. The health care law is part of a bid by those groups to reduce the world’s population, Felix said.

“Everything leads to that conclusion,” Felix said.

The retired Cold Springs woman is still fearing on the United Nations in a new post on the Central Minnesota Tea Party's blog. In Refugee Resettleme​nt, Felix writes amid a chorus of babble about how refugees are nothing but welfare moochers:

. . . And why do we now take in more Muslims than any other kind of refugee? At one time, we chose the great majority of those brought to our country, but now “up to 95% of the refugees coming to the U. S. were referred by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or were the relatives of UN-picked refugees.” (Refugee Resettlement Fact Sheet [no link in original]) Why?

And, how is it that Muslims brought here as “refugees” can afford to build a mosque in St. Cloud? For that matter, why does our tax money pay refugee resettlement costs across the country for these Muslims who can then build mosques? Does a single one of them pledge allegiance to our flag?

Muslims building mosques! The next thing you know, Christians will build churches and Jews temples, first thing they get to the western hemisphere. Oh noes!

Felix opposes immigration: an LTE to the editors of the St. Cloud Times condemning "traitorous Republican committee chairs" who would support reform was reprinted on the CMTP blog. In another post, she also doesn't much like marriage equality, which she sees as a homosexual war on religion in which same-sex couples launch "not-so-subtle attempts to mock Christian marriage while forcing the world to see and acknowledge the sodomy they practice."

Okay then.

Interfaith dialogue: “Tolerance and the Fear of Islam”

It's easy to see why there's some pushback on Felix's attitude--and to an event the Central Minnesota Tea Party hosted earlier this year: ACT! for America Islamophobe Brigitte Gabriel. The St. Cloud Times and the Morrison County Record have both published notice of a December 4 event.

Interfaith leaders and community members will gather in Little Falls, Wednesday, Dec. 4, for a community dialogue on “Tolerance and the Fear of Islam.” Event sponsors include: Little Falls Partners for Peace, Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace, Building Blocks of Islam and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN).

The event will be held at St. Francis Hall in the Franciscan Center, 116 Eighth Ave. S.E., from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

“Many individuals in the community have never met a Muslim in person and that allows fear to grow,” said CAIR-MN Civil Rights Attorney Ellen Longfellow. “This event seeks to promote a positive discussion around tolerance, respect and community. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best: ‘We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.’”

Speakers include Saly Abd Alla, CAIR-MN civil rights director; Jaylani Hussein CAIR-MN outreach and advocacy director; Ian Norwood Little Falls Community High School student; and Father Virgil Petermeier, St. Cloud Muslim-Christian Dialogue. The dialogue will be moderated by Jeff Odendahl of the Franciscan Center.

The event was organized after community leaders and activists considered the negative impact a speech by an anti-Muslim speaker had in Little Falls earlier this year. On July 29, the Central Minnesota Tea Party featured anti-Muslim speaker Brigitte Gabriel from the group ACT! For America.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

All four Republican gubernatorial candidates who took part in the "Outstate Debate" agreed that the role of the Tea Party is positive. Perhaps one of them will step forth with some real leadership and friendly advice that Felix's brand of conservativism might not be a viable path to victory.

Numerous conservative organizations are working tirelessly in Minnesota to achieve worthwhile goals. The Rochester Tea Party has invited several of these organizations to address their monthly meeting. This is a great opportunity to learn about other political groups, what their missions are, and what issues they are pursuing. This should be a most interesting evening.

While some of these groups--like the Koch Brothers-founded and dark money funded Americans for Prosperity, College Republicans, Taxpayers League, and Minnesota Majority are well-known, a couple of them are newer or lesser lights.

While the effort seems directed by white males, the intent does seem to be in good faith (its only podcast, created over a month ago, is billed as "In our pilot show of Minority Liberty Alliance Radio, host Tim McShane interviews MLA Latino outreach coordinator Maria de la Paz, as she describes what got her motivated to become an activist," actually features only McShane talking for 17 minutes).

The original 56 Club group meets weekly here in Minnesota. Our focus is on the truthful exploration of our early American history, our Founding documents, our Founders and how all of that comes together and impacts us today. We pay close attention to the things that the Founders of this country would have wanted us to pay attention to.

Defenders of the NCCS argue that the outfit, run by the grandfatherly Taylor, is merely teaching good old-fashioned civics to interested Americans. But while there is a large amount of straight, accurate history included in "Making of America" seminars, the lessons are about much more than just the Constitution. The organization's larger mission is to crudely propagandize against America's secular foundations and sow doubt over the legitimacy of the modern welfare and regulatory state, using a textbook written by a notorious conspiracist who adhered to apocalyptic folklore. . . .

The NCCS views its education crusade as crucial for rebuilding America after a coming cataclysm; thus, "The Making of America" is best seen as a God-centric civics class for the bomb shelter. Speaking last year in Mesa, Ariz., Taylor spoke cryptically of the need for "the Good Lord's help" to take America "into a much better phase of existence lasting for a thousand years."

The 56 Club hosted CAPS senior fellow and immigration reform opponent Michael Cutler on November 5, according to a post on its Facebook page. Cutler also appeared at SW Metro and Central Minnesota Tea Party meetings last week. A post on the SWMTPP's Facebook page promoting Cutler's visit incited a kerfuffle in the comments between the page admin, xenophobe Ruthie Hendrycks of MinnSIR and Bob Quasius of the pro-CIR group, Cafe Con Leche Republicans.

The Republican Party of Minnesota and the Emmer for Governor campaign filed a petition today (Nov. 17) with the Minnesota Supreme Court asking the court to ensure that the number of ballots and number of voters voting in the Nov. 2 gubernatorial election match.

“It can be a game changer,” said Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Tony Sutton of the result of a court-ordered review of the election. . . .

In their petition, Republicans argue that “strong and growing evidence” exists that some election officials did not determine the number of the ballots to be counted or otherwise failed to follow proper procedure.

Bluestem can't close without a parting observation about a Facebook entry posted by College Republicans who were out door knocking for Cam Winton, the leading Republican candidate in the recently concluded Minneapolis mayoral race. The post of two CR leaders eating at a Chick-Fil-A illustrates the messaging mishmash inside a party that fosters the Minority Liberty Alliance while continuing accept date nights with xenophobic and Islamophobic tea party chapters.

. . . I am a Republican. I am not seeking the endorsement of any party in this race. So let me drill down on what I mean by that. I’ve been active in the Republican Party.

That said, I’m married to a DFLer. I have a lot of experience compromising with a DFLer. And while I am a Republican, there are ways I disagree strongly and fundamentally with the party platform.

Gay marriage I support. Period. No equivocation. I was vigorous and outspoken in my opposition to the marriage amendment I co-hosted a fundraiser. That’s one way where I disagree with the Republican Party. . . .

American fast-food chain Chick-fil-A was the focus of controversy following a series of public comments made in June 2012 by chief operating officerDan Cathy opposing same-sex marriage. This followed reports that Chick-fil-A's charitable endeavor, the S. Truett Cathy-family-operated WinShape Foundation, had made millions in donations to political organizations which oppose LGBT rights. LGBT rights activists called for protests and boycotts of the chain, while counter-protestors rallied in support by eating at the restaurants. National political figures both for and against the actions spoke out and some business partners severed ties with the chain . . .

Do the Olmsted County Republicans and Rochester Tea Party Republicans share this confusion about message?

Screenshots: MLC Facebook congrats (above); 56 Club Facebook post of the "Feeding the Animals" "joke" (middle); The RCs loving on some of that marriage-inequality fast food (below).

All three candidates said they would have opposed an immigration bill that passed the Democratic Senate earlier this year, then stalled in the GOP House.

But Sivarajah struck a somewhat different tone on that issue, saying more visas should be given to skilled workers. Noting that her husband is a legal immigrant to the U.S. from Malaysia, Sivarajah said many immigrants have a special regard for the freedoms they find in the U.S.

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s chief of staff, David Gaither, took part in a major Capitol Hill lobbying effort in Washington last week to push for immigration-reform legislation.

Gaither is executive director of the International Education Center in Minneapolis, which last year helped 1,000 immigrants from 89 countries develop language and work skills. Recruited by FWD.US — the Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates pro-immigration reform group — Gaither joined representatives from Cargill, Ecolab, Hormel and several religious organizations and met with Reps. Tim Walz, Erik Paulsen and Collin Peterson.

He said that Republican Paulsen and Walz, a Democrat, in particular seemed eager to see a bill pass the U.S. House. The GOP-controlled House plan most likely to pass would not provide a “special” path to citizenship for the country’s estimated 11 million illegal residents. “That’s the one thing that gives them the most heartburn,” Gaither said.

But Gaither said that Walz, Paulsen and Peterson, a Democrat, appreciated the needs outlined by Minnesota business: modifying the system to allow more highly skilled workers to enter the country and fixing glitches in the “e-verify” system that can misidentify immigrants and countries of origin.

Walz is also a Democrat, as Republicans in his districts constantly remind voters. Democrats in Peterson's district sometimes are reminded of Peterson's party label, so Brucato's being helpful there.

It's an interesting strategy for both Sivarajah and Paulsen (if indeed his position is as the lobbyist describes it). However, while at first FWD.US's agenda seemed to be focused just on visas for skilled workers, more recent activity by the PAC suggests a broader commitment to comprehensive immigration reform.

To the U.S. technology industry, there's a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business. To unions and some Democrats, it's more sinister: The push by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to expand the number of visas for high-tech foreign workers is an attempt to dilute a lucrative job market with cheap, indentured labor.

The answer is somewhere in between, depending as much on new technologies and the U.S. education system's ability to keep up as on the immigration law itself. But the sliver of computer-related jobs inside the U.S. that might be designated for foreigners — fewer than 200,000 out of 6 million — has been enough to strain a bipartisan deal in the Senate on immigration reform, showcase the power of big labor and splinter a once-chummy group of elite tech leaders hoping to make inroads in Washington. . . .

. . . According to a recent report by the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute, the number of skilled guest workers has increased sharply in recent years while only 1 in 2 U.S. college graduates with high-tech degrees can find a job in their field.

"You have to question why we would want to import an increasing number of foreign workers," said Lowell, who co-wrote the report.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took his first step on the national political stage Monday night when he joined publicly with tech leaders, civil rights activists and undocumented immigrants to call for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration policies - an issue he said touches not just Silicon Valley but "the whole country."

"This is something that we believe is really important for the future of our country - and for us to do what's right," the social media innovator told a crowd of several hundred at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

The political advocacy group co-founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched a lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill Tuesday to push House Republicans to act on immigration reform.

Zuckerberg’s group, FWD.us, joined with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Bibles Badges and Business and other pro-immigration groups to sponsor a day-long trip aimed at pressuring House Republicans to bring immigration legislation to the floor for a vote. More than 80 representatives from the tech community across the country met with House Republican members from their home states on Tuesday to make the case for immigration reform. . . .

Overall, the joint lobbying push sponsored by FWD.us, the Chamber and other pro-immigration groups brought roughly 600 representatives to Washington for meetings with 150 member offices.

FWD.us plans to keep up its push for House action on immigration legislation in the coming days.

Next month the group will host a “DREAMer Hackathon” event at LinkedIn’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. Young immigrants who came to the United States illegally with their families, often called “Dreamers” in relation to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, will build digital tools and applications at the “hackathon” event that help promote FWD.us’ advocacy efforts for immigration reform.

When the negotiating gets tough, will the Silicon Valley immigration lobby bail on those undocumented workers most desperately in need?

While Sivarajah might be comfortable with a "yes" answer to that question, the Dreamers and others, who wish to secure their parents' status as well as their own, may be very unhappily vocal about such a change.

Mark Zuckerberg is being unfriended by progressives angered by television ads from his political advocacy group Fwd.us that praise lawmakers for supporting the expansion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. . . .

Fwd.us is spending seven figures in seven states to frame immigration reform as a conservative issue. The first round of ad buys makes no mention of immigration. Instead the ads tout lawmakers' support of causes embraced by conservatives.

Fwd.us chief Joe Green was not available for comment, spokeswoman Kate Hansen said.

"Fwd.us is committed to showing support for elected officials who promote the policy changes needed to build the knowledge economy," Hansen said. "Maintaining two separate entities, Americans for a Conservative Direction and the Council for American Job Growth, to support elected officials across the political spectrum –- separately –- means that we can more effectively communicate with targeted audiences of their constituents."

Is there a connection between this advertising and the attempts by some conservatives to pretend that environmental groups and progressives are really the ones blocking immigration reform?

Meanwhile, faith-based group ISAIAH and Catholic Charities Office for Social Justice are in the midst of its Minnesota Pilgrimage for Citizenship, going from church to church in Representative Paulsen's district. They'll conduct a prayer vigil at Paulsen's office in Eden Prairie at 4 p.m.

Ten protesters were arrested Monday as they blocked Burnsville Parkway in front of U.S. Representative John Kline’s office while about 100 supporters watched their act of civil disobedience. Organized by La Asamblea de Derechos Civiles (Assembly of Civil Rights), a statewide, faith-based non-profit organization, the action was planned in an effort to pressure the Republican Congressman to support immigration reform, as well as to call on House Speaker John Boehner to bring HR-15, the bill that has already passed in the Senate and includes a path to citizenship, to the House Floor.

“He needs to listen to the community,” said Asamblea co-founder Antonia Alvarez, who brought her young children to the action, including eight-year old Melina, who delivered a personal message to the congressman. “Will you please ask Congressman Kline to pass immigration reform with a path to citizenship,” the young girl asked Kline’s receptionist.

Between business and the bible, will Republicans be swayed to vote for reform?

Cutler's appearance at a second Minnesota Tea Party chapter closely associated with Republican state lawmakers and Republican candidates for office illustrates tensions with the state's conservatives and business community over immigration reform.

The Strib reported last month that the Minnesota Chamber [of Commerce] advocates for immigration reform; however, the paper noted yesterday in Clock ticks on immigration reform:

A number of conservative Republicans, including Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, have made it clear they will not vote for what they consider to be “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants.

With Bachmann firmly in the “no” column, reform supporters are hopeful that House members like John Kline and Erik Paulsen will heed their pleas, pitches and protests.

. . .Both Kline and Paulsen have indicated support for change in the nation’s immigration system but have not come out in favor of full-blown reform.

While Chanhassen is just outside of Paulsen's district, it's likely that many attending tonight's talk will be Paulsen's constituents. The Cutler appearance in St. Cloud will signal a path against citizenship for immigrants to Republican candidates vying to replace Bachmann.

He is currently a Senior Fellow at CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization); a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank; a Contributing Expert for the Counterterrorism Blog; and an advisor to the 911 Families for a Secure America. He also advises the American Council for Immigration Reform as well as Family Security Matters and the American Council for Immigration Reform on issues concerning immigration issues that relate to national security.

Cutler Is A Regular Contributor To The White Nationalist Social Contract Journal. Cutler is a regular contributor to The Social Contract -- the white nationalist quarterly journal established by notorious nativist John Tanton. A search of Cutler's name at the Social Contract Press shows that he has written at least six articles for the journal since 2009. His most recent article for the Winter 2013 issue is based on his notion that the victims of illegal immigration are American citizens and legal immigrants. He also blames undocumented immigrants for prostitution in immigrants' communities. [Social Contract Press, accessed 7/18/13]

Rocky Mountain News: The Social Contract Press Publishes White Supremacist Authors. The Social Contract Press publishes pieces "by authors who express white nationalist or separatist views," and its editor Wayne Lutton "has also been on the advisory board of the publication of the Council of Conservative Citizens," a white-supremacist group. [Rocky Mountain News, 7/15/06]

The Council of Conservative Citizens' statement of principles states: "We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races." [Council of Conservative Citizens, accessed 7/19/13]

Cutler Is A Former Fellow For The Nativist Center For Immigration Studies. Cutler served as a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) for at least five years. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the group a nativist organization. [Center for Immigration Studies, accessed 7/17/13, Southern Poverty Law Center, February 2009]

CIS Is Part Of Tanton's Network Of Anti-Immigrant, Nativist Organizations. The group was founded by notorious nativist John Tanton, an anti-immigrant activist with ties to the Federation For American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a hate group. . . .

Cutler Is A Senior Fellow For The Anti-Immigrant Californians For Population Stabilization. Cutler is a senior fellow for the anti-immigrant Californians For Population Stabilization (CAPS) and regularly posts to the organization's blog. He is also referred to as a "senior writing fellow" in the organization's 2012 annual report summary, released in Spring 2013. The report praises him for increasing CAPS' national profile, stating: "With the particular assistance of Joe Guzzardi and Michael W. Cutler, TV, radio, print and Internet exposure continued increasing, with coverage in more than 200 blogs." [Californians For Population Stabilization, 2012 Annual Report Summary, Spring 2013; accessed 7/18/12]

Center For New Community: CAPS Is "The Anti-Immigrant Hate-Group Masquerading As An Environmentalist Organization." In a post exposing CAPS as an "anti-immigrant hate-group masquerading as an environmentalist organization," the Center for New Community noted that the group receives funding from the white supremacist Pioneer Fund. SPLC lists the Pioneer Fund as a "hate group" and says the fund "has bankrolled many of the leading Anglo-American race scientists of the last several decades." [Center for New Community, 6/29/12; Media Matters, 9/8/11]

Cutler Has Appeared On A Radio Show Linked With The "White Nationalism Codifying" John Birch Society. According to the Center for New Community, Cutler has appeared on the Second Opinion radio show hosted by Donald R. Griffin. Griffin is a member of what CNC called the "white nationalism codifying, conspiracy-convinced John Birch Society" . . .

To learn more about Cutler's views, read the entire post. Cutler has also been a guest on "The Ruthie Report," hosted by Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Report (MinnSIR) and Minnesota Minuteman leader, Ruthie Hendrycks. Hendrycks was Sue Jeffers' running mate in her 2006 Republican primary challenge to Governor Pawlenty.

Bluestem noted in an earlier post that exurban and Greater Minnesota Tea Party chapters' anti-CIR events are also a potential trainwreck for the party's commendable outreach to immigrants and people of color:

Come Join us for our Kick Off of another month full of Information & Activism!

Micheal Cutler will tell us more about his experiences and his viewpoint on Illegal Immigration.

"Current policies and statements by the administration, in my view, encourage aspiring illegal aliens around the world to head for the United States. In effect the starter's gun has been fired for these folks, the finish line to this race is the border of the United States." [end update]

Cutler Is A Regular Contributor To The White Nationalist Social Contract Journal. Cutler is a regular contributor to The Social Contract -- the white nationalist quarterly journal established by notorious nativist John Tanton. A search of Cutler's name at the Social Contract Press shows that he has written at least six articles for the journal since 2009. His most recent article for the Winter 2013 issue is based on his notion that the victims of illegal immigration are American citizens and legal immigrants. He also blames undocumented immigrants for prostitution in immigrants' communities. [Social Contract Press, accessed 7/18/13]

Rocky Mountain News: The Social Contract Press Publishes White Supremacist Authors. The Social Contract Press publishes pieces "by authors who express white nationalist or separatist views," and its editor Wayne Lutton "has also been on the advisory board of the publication of the Council of Conservative Citizens," a white-supremacist group. [Rocky Mountain News, 7/15/06]

The Council of Conservative Citizens' statement of principles states: "We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races." [Council of Conservative Citizens, accessed 7/19/13]

Cutler Is A Former Fellow For The Nativist Center For Immigration Studies. Cutler served as a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) for at least five years. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the group a nativist organization. [Center for Immigration Studies, accessed 7/17/13, Southern Poverty Law Center, February 2009]

CIS Is Part Of Tanton's Network Of Anti-Immigrant, Nativist Organizations. The group was founded by notorious nativist John Tanton, an anti-immigrant activist with ties to the Federation For American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a hate group. . . .

Cutler Is A Senior Fellow For The Anti-Immigrant Californians For Population Stabilization. Cutler is a senior fellow for the anti-immigrant Californians For Population Stabilization (CAPS) and regularly posts to the organization's blog. He is also referred to as a "senior writing fellow" in the organization's 2012 annual report summary, released in Spring 2013. The report praises him for increasing CAPS' national profile, stating: "With the particular assistance of Joe Guzzardi and Michael W. Cutler, TV, radio, print and Internet exposure continued increasing, with coverage in more than 200 blogs." [Californians For Population Stabilization, 2012 Annual Report Summary, Spring 2013; accessed 7/18/12]

Center For New Community: CAPS Is "The Anti-Immigrant Hate-Group Masquerading As An Environmentalist Organization." In a post exposing CAPS as an "anti-immigrant hate-group masquerading as an environmentalist organization," the Center for New Community noted that the group receives funding from the white supremacist Pioneer Fund. SPLC lists the Pioneer Fund as a "hate group" and says the fund "has bankrolled many of the leading Anglo-American race scientists of the last several decades." [Center for New Community, 6/29/12; Media Matters, 9/8/11]

Cutler Has Appeared On A Radio Show Linked With The "White Nationalism Codifying" John Birch Society. According to the Center for New Community, Cutler has appeared on the Second Opinion radio show hosted by Donald R. Griffin. Griffin is a member of what CNC called the "white nationalism codifying, conspiracy-convinced John Birch Society" . . .

To learn more about Cutler's views, read the entire post. Cutler has also been a guest on "The Ruthie Report," hosted by Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Report (MinnSIR) and Minnesota Minuteman leader, Ruthie Hendrycks. Hendrycks was Sue Jeffers' running mate in her 2006 Republican primary challenge to Governor Pawlenty.

Business community favors immigration reform

A flurry of reports are falling across Minnesota and national media about the determination of business groups to defund the Tea Party and Republicans who rode into office on it. Typically of this coverage? Today's report by Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik, Some business groups signaling they've had enough of tea party.

That coverage focuses on the federal shutdown and quarrels about the debt ceiling, but there's also a split between the business community and the SW Metro Tea Party's anti-immigrant stances. On October 5, the Strib's Joy Powell reported in Diverse crowd, 2,000 strong, seeks immigration reform:

. . .Bill Blazer of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce said reforms could ease worker shortages for many diverse Minnesota companies as baby boomers retire at a rising pace. . . .

Earlier, in September, former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, who now heads the pro-Republican Minnesota Action Network, sent two back-to-back weekly messages touting comprehensive immigration reform. In Minnesota Jobs, Coleman wrote:

Earlier this spring the American Action Network released a report that showed that an overhaul of immigration laws could boost gross domestic product growth by a percentage point each year over the next decade and produce tax revenue that would reduce federal deficits by a combined $2.5 trillion.

More recently, the American Action Network released a report showing the job gains that could be realized, district-by-district, state-by-state by achieving immigration reform.

In Minnesota it is estimated that almost 42,000 new jobs would be created if immigration reform were implemented.

To put that in perspective, since July, for the year, a total of about 56,000 private sector jobs were added in Minnesota.

Coleman favors increased border security and mandatory E-verify use by all United State employers, as he states in the column. The next week, Coleman wrote in Immigration Reform:

Achieving immigration reform is going to be very tough. Those who oppose immigration reform believe there needs to be a reset by which those who are here illegally simply need to leave and re-apply to become American citizens.

That thinking is as unrealistic as those who suggest we give those here illegally blanket amnesty. . . .

Any Republican who supports these wrong ideas--maybe it will spread beyond the idea of immigration--but certainly now as part of this immigration bill, that any Republican that supports this bill, ANY immigration bill that has any even remote hint with of amnesty, that they will be targeted for a loss in their next election. And I wll do everything I can within my power to see them kicked out of office.

Coleman's middle way would likely be deemed a "hint of amnesty," since he's willing to work out some cautious path to citizenship.

However a person might judge the effectiveness of these well-intentioned efforts, they're a far cry from the decidedly ugly anti-Somali handouts circulated at tea parties in central and southern Minnesota by Minneapolis' ACT! for America chapter leader Debra Anderson. Anderson also used the Central Minnesota Tea Party blog to promote opposition to a mosque and community center proposed in St. Cloud. The SW Metro Tea party has heard the stories of "legal" immigrants, yet invites in talent like Cutler.

While no elected official is closely associated with the Southern Minnesota Tea Party, the same cannot be said of the SW Metro Tea Party and the Central Minnesota chapter. Pugh founded the SW Metro Tea Party and continues as an organizer for it (she is one of three welcoming visitors to the group's website), while Jim Newberger is also involved with the Central Minnesota Tea Party. Pugh has made a name for herself as a scourge of Muslims, and prior to being elected, noted "ILLEGAL ALIENS - (the CO$T!)/AMNESTY! - Outrageous!" as one of her three greatest concern on her Patriot Action Network profile from 2011.

Bluestem cannot help but notice that the conservative anti-Somali and anti-immgrant activities are taking place in exurban and outstate areas, while the bulk of the outreach to immigrant communities in occuring in the metro (headquartering Cafe Con Leche Republicans in Lyon County is an exception).

This sort of place-baiting is a foolish game to be playing with New Americans, who have high rates of social media adoption. The old strategy of playing metro against Greater Minnesota may not work if news of immigrant bashing in Little Falls, Chanhassen and St.Cloud circulates on Lake and Robert Street.

Photos: Screenshot of the November 4 Mike Cutler event on the SW Metro Tea Party page (above); This isn't the first Tea Party meeting where Cutler has spoken; this one's from 2012 via Lewis Heaton Books (below).